Please help - laptop won't start up - loud clicking sound

PLEASE HELP - LAPTOP WON'T START UP - LOUD CLICKING SOUND

I'm afraid my laptop is really screwed. I'm posting this request from my girlfriends laptop.

This morning I turned it on and it freezed in the opening window while saying a loud clicking sound. I've turned it off and on all day and the same thing happens. I think it's the harddrive and that something is terribly wrong. So suddenly my problems are alot worse than outlook and word crashing and I don't know if these events are linked to the present?

Now I would really like to know if anybody can help me with this and most importantly tell me that it is possible to retrieve my data from the harddisk..?

Please help anybody

 

Send it any computer technician who is fixing hard drive problems. Least, i am sure they save your data